Oakland General Strike a Success, but Cops Seriously Injure another Vet

In response to severe violence carried out by the city government of Oakland on October 25th, much of the city of Oakland was shut down on November 2nd and successful mass protests took to the streets. By conservative estimates 50,000 people demonstrated. Protesters included many union people wearing their union shirts as well as students. Marches included a morning march, a noon march on the banks, an anti-capitalist march, and a march of over 10,000 people that shut down the Port of Oakland with a mass picket honored by members of ILWU Local 10.

It was an overwhelming response against the police violence carried out under Democrat Mayor Jean Quan's administration that attempted to shut down the peaceful Occupy Oakland protest on October 25th with severe violence. Many people were injured by the cops and one protester, Scott Olsen, an Iraq War veteran and member of Iraq War Veterans Against the War, was hit in the head by a projectile fired by the cops at close range. The injury knocked him out with a fractured skull and has caused severe damaged to the speech center of his brain making him no longer able to speak.

A second veteran has now been seriously injured by the police on November 2nd. This time it was Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran Kayvan Sabehgi whose spleen was ruptured due to a brutal beating by cops.